Drop These Words From Your LinkedIn Profile Immediately

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20 Jan 2016 5:06 PM

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Illustrated by Mary Galloway

As thousands of professionals contemplate a career overhaul following ‘Blue Monday’, today is the day most people will update their LinkedIn profiles and put their New Year's resolutions into action. But, in a busy job market and with over 20 million UK professionals now on LinkedIn, it’s more important than ever to make sure you're not lost in the shuffle.

With that in mind, today, LinkedIn have released the top ten most overused ‘buzzwords’ that are guaranteed to turn employers off, and – brace yourselves – because we've all been guilty of using them. Here’s 2015’s list of the most overused words and phrases:Motivated, Creative, Enthusiastic, Track record, Passionate, Successful, Driven, Leadership, Strategic, Extensive experience

Before you delete your whole CV, here's some very useful advice from LinkedIn’s Darain Faraz, with an artillery of alternatives...

-‘Enthusiastic' and ‘Passionate' – Instead of saying that you’re ‘passionate’ and ‘enthusiastic’, show that you are by listing any voluntary experience or causes you care about in the ‘Voluntary Experiences’ section of your profile.

-‘Creative' – Try, ‘I see the world differently’. Or actively showcase your ‘creativity’ by uploading examples of your work so that people can see this for themselves.

-‘Successful' – Nothing beats praise from colleagues and employers to demonstrate you're ’successful'. Ask others to endorse you, or give former colleagues a recommendation to encourage one back.

-‘Leadership' – Use real life examples of how you’ve led teams, what size they were, and the results. Also, encourage your team to endorse you for your ‘leadership’ or ‘management’ skills on LinkedIn.

-'Extensive experience' – Demonstrate your ‘experience' by offering your opinion and insight on relevant topics through groups. Being active in these groups makes your profile 15x more likely to be viewed.